RGTHRG1 Review

The RGTHRG1 features Giger's "NY City XIX" painting on the Ibanez RG body design popular among heavy metal guitarists.

Features:	8
Sound:	8
Action:	9.5
Reliability:	10
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	8.9
Users rating:	8
Comments:	16

overall: 9

Featured review by: SMK626, on march 20, 2007

Price paid: $ 600

Purchased from: Sam Ash

Features: It was made in 2005 I beilive. It has 24 XJ frets as well as a 5 peice maple/walnut Wizard II neck with a dark "deluxe" sharktooth inlay. It is a neck-thru body, and has one of the most amazing feels and fret access I've ever felt. You can really get on the upper-frets with ease. The body is mahogany shaped into the typical RG design. The finish is a beautiful, eye catching graphic made by H.R. Giger himself, which contains a kind of mechanical/industrial look to it along with it's erie dark green/black colors. The whole guitar, including the finish, is satan. It comes with passive eletronics. Ibanez IFN1 neck and IFN2 bridge dual humbucker setup. The controls are Volume, Tone and a 5-way selector. The tuners are simply Ibanez stock. The bridge is a Ibanez Edge Pro II Double Locking. It came with a neat material Ibanez/Giger poster which actually looks pretty cool. I just wish it came with a case. // 9

Sound: This guitar is a pretty versitle peice of equipment. My style varies. It suits most all of them including, classical, metal, blues, rock and classic rock. The 5-way and passive makes it kind of easy to pull a more Strat like tone out of it all though never completely authentic. I play this directly into a Peavy Triple XXX Half-stack. When distorted, the noise and feedback tends to be extremely low. It has a nice warm sound but it's hard to get a good solid bite out of it. It plays beautifully for lead yet average when it comes to rhythms. The sustain was one of the best features. It went on for days and made the harmonics sing as well as scream. When clean, the sound is full, warm and clear and brings absolutely no issues. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I had received this guitar well passed its discontiuation date. I was lucky to get my hands on it. The factory set up was decent yet needed adjustments because I use a thicker gauge of strings then the factory set. After those adjustments were complete, The guitar was perfect. Played great, everything was as described, except for me the finish looked better in person. It contained absolutely no flaws other then the neck adjustment. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar is very very very durable. It only has 1 small scratch so far with it. It had 1 or 2 hard hits to the back of the neck and the paint on the back came out with no damage what-so-ever. It seems it would be perfect for Live playing and I can't wait to take it on-stage next time I have a gig. The hardware works fine and the locking tuners do keep in tune pretty well. The strap buttons work perfect even though I am going to Switch them to strap locks soon. If I were to play this guitar on stage, I'm pretty sure I would not use this as a backup guitar. The looks and reliability would be a instant yes, to taking it on stage. The finish seems to look thin but it proves durable. For me this is a first but it actually has been extremely durable and still looks new. // 10

Impression: I play in a metal band, and this guitar is almost a perfect match. The only problem was it's distorted rhythm tone didn't have enough bite. One thing that might be a problem for some people is the fret dots on the side of the fretboard are slightly hard to see. I've been playing for over 3 years now, I also own a Dean Razorback, ESP LTD EC-1000, and a Peavy Triple XXX halfstack. Suprisingly it beats my razorback and almost my LTD. If this were lost or stolen I would hunt the person Who stole it down because this was too hard to get ahold of in it's discontinued state, and it's never gonna get lost, that's a promise. I would glady go on ebay and pay well more to purchase it again though. I love its feel and upper-fret access, as well as its screaming lead. I hate the 5-way switching and it's average rhythm tone. My favorite thing about it is definately the feel of the neck. I picked this over a Jackson RR3 and another Ibanez RG. This was completely superior. Not only that, I'm a huge fan of H.R. Giger's artwork. The only thing I wish was different about it is the passive system. The passive system on this wasent that well with the rhythms. I wish for it to be active, along with 3-way instead of 5-way. Other then that, it's great. Giger's artwork with a awesome RG model, this is a must for a lot of lead players or Giger fans. The price is very reasonable too. I just wish you good luck getting this discontinued model though. You'll probably only find it on ebay now. // 9

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: MKJ, on december 02, 2009

Price paid: $ 525

Purchased from: V - Sel Music

Features: The guitar was made in korea in the year 2007. 24 frets, amazing action and H-H combination (Humbuckers in the neck and bridge). I believe the neck is a Wizard 3 neck which i must say is "super fast" to put it simply. The body is a super-Strat typical to many Ibanez guitars but its selling point is the paint job, Done by H.R Giger himself and i must say it is quite a site. Tuners are Standard Ibanez and its a Edge III tremolo System. There is a Standard one volume and one tone control and a 5 way selector. The pickups are standar Ibanez "infinity" series (although I switched out the bridge with a DMarzio) and you get a custom hardcase with the guitar. // 7

Sound: I generally play alot of metal and rock with a bit of pop here and there and this guitar suits all styles perfectly. I use a Zoom G2.1u multi effects pedal and a Charvel-Jackson CH200r 25 Watt Amp and the sound after pickup change is quite satisfying. The Infinity pickup in the neck is actually pretty good the one in the bridge was so-so hence I switched it. The guitar is not noisy at all and in fact at times I don't even have to use a noise gate. The guitar in Short sound wise is extremely Diverse. You can go from a clean warm near-Acoustic sound to a All-out Riffer madness Metal Tone. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar (used when I bought it) was in amazing condition and the setup was absolutely amazing. I have now come to expect this from Ibanez as the other Ibanez guitars I had (bought NEw) were setup perfectly. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I have used this guitar extensively and Thoroughly both Live an recording and I must say this thing is a TANK! It will never let you down. // 10

Impression: I have been playing for four years or so and I must say this has to be one of the finest guitars I have ever played. The only thing anyone should change is the pickup in the bridge. The EDGE 3 system is extremely reliable and never goes out of tune. If it was stolen I would find the the thief and finish HIM Mortal Kombat style if you get my point =P. One thing I would add is that it would be better if it came with EMG's or DMarzio's as standarad pickups. // 9

Comments

[xsouldriverx]

these guitars do come with a case, they come witha special case designed for the guitar with the H.R. Giger alien-esc symbol on it. i know some guitar places will try to make you pay extra for that case but its supposed to come with it. I got the Iceman equivalent of it and it too is an amazing guitar and the satin finish makes the neck smooth and easy to play and slide on

[sum 41 fan]

does it have a floyd bridge?

[Shinozoku]

sum 41 fan wrote:

does it have a floyd bridge?

No it has an ibanez bridge. The Edge Pro IIs arent as good as the regular Edge Pros, though (And the regular Edge Pros are renowned as much as Floyds).

[Venom™]

omg i just love all ibanez guitars, i still have my GRG170DX but i am hoping to get a nice RG, any reccomendations?

[proguitarist11]

i would not recommend buying this guitar for a couple of reasons. for one, the bridge tremolo system isn't nearly as good as the actual Floyd Rose system on the S series Ibanez, which also play better and look nicer. IMO, this guitar has too much art on the body. keep it simple and focus more on the sound that's gonna come out. this guitar should be half the price that this guy bought it for.

[The Extremist^]

proguitarist11 wrote:

i would not recommend buying this guitar for a couple of reasons. for one, the bridge tremolo system isn't nearly as good as the actual Floyd Rose system on the S series Ibanez, which also play better and look nicer. IMO, this guitar has too much art on the body. keep it simple and focus more on the sound that's gonna come out. this guitar should be half the price that this guy bought it for.

Well, yeah.

[SOUPerman432321]

ibanezs suck

[SMK626]

proguitarist11 wrote:

i would not recommend buying this guitar for a couple of reasons. for one, the bridge tremolo system isn't nearly as good as the actual Floyd Rose system on the S series Ibanez, which also play better and look nicer. IMO, this guitar has too much art on the body. keep it simple and focus more on the sound that's gonna come out. this guitar should be half the price that this guy bought it for.

i disagree with that. the art is there for a reason. as said its a H.R. Giger series, thus implementing Giger's artwork on it. Main reason most people would buy it is for the artwork. i will agree with the S but the S is far more expensive for most of them. and beilive the edge pro looks nicer.

[Weybl Himself]

To Proguitarist11 (Quote wouldn't work for me) I'm pretty sure that there isn't a guitar in the Ibanez lineup that had an Original Floyd Rose, all of them have an Edge or derivative thereof. A couple of the S series guitars do have the ZR system which is a bloody nice piece of equipment, but Ibanez have always made their own tremelos.

[emr_steelmech]

Venom™ wrote:

omg i just love all ibanez guitars, i still have my GRG170DX but i am hoping to get a nice RG, any reccomendations?

Trust me, you'll be happy with any RG, but as mentioned the Edge Pro II tremolos are kinda crappy. I'd say avoid the EP II, or you can jerry-rig it like I did on my RG 350 and use a piece of steel instead of the tremolo springs, locking it in place. Really your choice just depends on the price you want to spend. IMO, you can't go wrong with an RG.

[Guitargod12345]

These thing have awsome paint jobs.

[proguitarist11]

if your getting a guitar for looks, then ya, go w/ this one, but if you want a solid, metal/rock sound, or if you use a lot of effects, the S series would be my recommendation. this guitar, at least for me, doesn't give me the sound i want in a "metal" guitar. and to Weyble Himself: my S series does actually have an Original Floyd Rose system. I bought my Ibanez S 470 back in 2003 and the reason i got it was because i wanted to be able to do a lot w/ my tremolo bar and one of my good friends who is a guitar teacher recommended the S470 specifically because it had the Original Floyd Rose. idk if they still have the Original Floyd Rose on there, but they used to. and btw, my S470, i got it for $480 and it's played well since i bought it 4 years ago.

Checked.

[Chad11491]

emr_steelmech wrote:

Venom™ wrote:

omg i just love all ibanez guitars, i still have my GRG170DX but i am hoping to get a nice RG, any reccomendations?Trust me, you'll be happy with any RG, but as mentioned the Edge Pro II tremolos are kinda crappy. I'd say avoid the EP II, or you can jerry-rig it like I did on my RG 350 and use a piece of steel instead of the tremolo springs, locking it in place. Really your choice just depends on the price you want to spend. IMO, you can't go wrong with an RG.

dude....you have an Edge III on that guitar (the 350)

i'd reccomend trying to go for the prestige lineup the 1570's only around 700, anyways, i love the artwork on that one

[Z-tarist 777]

Weybl Himself wrote:

To Proguitarist11 (Quote wouldn't work for me) I'm pretty sure that there isn't a guitar in the Ibanez lineup that had an Original Floyd Rose, all of them have an Edge or derivative thereof. A couple of the S series guitars do have the ZR system which is a bloody nice piece of equipment, but Ibanez have always made their own tremelos.

Proguitarist11 is right. I just bought a really nice Ibanez RGT series guitar with a licensed Floyd Rose.

[darkcraven]

I own this guitar and I can say that is absolutely HUGE! It sounds very massive, and has a unique neck feel. 1 bad thing: The EPII...Hope this had a Lo-pro Edge. However, the PU are good, even if I suggest to put on some DiMarzios (as I did) or other high end PU.